The Shadow of Fairy Tail
by Rogalient3
Summary: Naruto thought it was all turning around for them, they were beginning to push back Tobi with his newfound power. That is, until they were sucked up by a vortex in the sky. How will he survive in this unfamiliar land? Simple, by following his ninja way!
1. The Hitchhiker's guide to Earthland

_Hello everyone and thank you for reading the first chapter of my newest story "The Shadow of Fairy Tail", I had originally planned on getting this thing posted a few months ago but I have been extremely busy with college so it prevented me from releasing it. I had decided on making this crossover after reading both the amazing stories of Paradox Jast's "Fire Shadow of Fairy Tail" and FoxboroSalts's "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" and thought about trying my hand in this. Hopefully it goes over well._

_**Side note:** I am dwindling down on the days before I am occfiaclly done with my first year in college so I will not be able to update the story for a while, and that might be extened a bit further through the revisions I'm going through on my other stories, still I'll try to update as fast as possible._

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Earthland<strong>

It was a peaceful forest somewhere within the Land of Lightning that had so far been untouched by the ongoing chaos that was the Fourth Shinobi World War. It was here that the sound of two heads crashing into each other suddenly rang out across the vast wilderness.

The two shinobi were thrown back from their clashing heads, with the sixteen year-old blonde whose whole body had turned yellow and released energy in a flicker of flames being caught with one arm by the large dark skinned man that was behind him.

"Settle down, mothafucka!" Killer Bee reprimanded his fellow Jinchuuriki as he placed him on the nearest tree branch that he could reach.

Naruto gave a sheepish smile though he winced slightly as his head still stung from the impact, "Damn, that thing's solid…I didn't even scratch it." he commented somewhat casually despite the situation.

The other man, a man who had claimed to be none other than the infamous Uchiha Madara, although Naruto knew that it was now just a lie, simply caught himself and entered into a crouching position a few trees away from them, his eyes that contained both the Sharingan and the Rinnegan gazing at them with mild interest.

"I should've slipped through you," he said with a hint of disbelief, though that was quickly replaced with a cool edge as he continued, "But you couldn't even scratch my mask? Come now Naruto, I expect more than that from the Nine-tails' power."

As one, six figures suddenly appeared and rushed the two ninja. The six shinobi were the deceased Jinchuuriki of the current generation that had been brought back from the dead due to Kabuto's Edo Tensei jutsu.

Roshi, the previous Four-tailed Jinchuuriki, was the one that lead the assault as he quickly ran through a series of hand-seals.

"_Yoton: Shakugaryugan no jutsu!_" he expelled a large amount of lava from his mouth that quickly solidified into a great number of boulders made entirely out of molten rock.

The sheer number coupled with the intense heat of the molten rock forced the two still living Jinchuuriki to be quick on their feet to avoid getting scorched. As a result they leapt from where they were standing and over the barrage and Roshi, a rasengan in Naruto's hand and a sword in each of Bee's, both preparing their counterattack on Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage and former host of the Sanbi.

But before either of their attacks could connect, Yagura created a large, flat volume of water in front of them that perfectly reflected them and their attacks as if it were a mirror. He then hooked onto the top of the water using the larger hook of his staff.

"_Suiton: Mizukagami no jutsu!_"

He brought the mirror down to a ninety degree position, and the reflections emerged and materialized from it with their own attacks clashing with their originals. The two attacks canceled each other's out with the reflections turning back into water after the impact, but the originals began plummeting to the ground.

"_The same moves,_" Naruto thought in disbelief before something caught his eye.

It was bubbles, an immense amount of bubbles that had completely surrounded them both. It was one of these little things that lightly touched Naruto's shoulder and popped, resulting in a small but powerful explosion that left a trail of smoke on the blonde's shoulder.

"Naruto!" Bee cried out in alarm.

"OWW DAMMIT!" Naruto cringed as he clutched his injured shoulder.

Unbeknownst to them, Utakata was watching them with that neutral face that all the deceased Jinchuriki seem to possess while simply blowing bubbles out of his pipe.

He slowly raised his hand into the air and snapped his fingers, "_Suiton: Homatsu no jutsu!_" and as one, every single bubble that was floating in the air simultaneously exploded.

Luckily, thanks to Bee using his partial transformations to make two tentacles, one to latch onto a tree above them and one to grab Naruto with, they avoided getting caught up in Utakata's attack.

"Thanks, Bee!"

But something caught the older shinobi's attention. He raised his head slightly and was surprised to find a glittering powder that gave off a luminous glow. He then spotted the only other female Jinchuuriki beside Yugito, Fuu, expelling more of the fine powder from her mouth.

"_Hiden: Rinpungakure no jutsu!_"

The powder shone so brightly that it had blinded them, leaving them unprepared for the concealed Yugito's and Han's ambush…or so one would think, but the exact opposite had happened. Naruto had grabbed onto Han's fist, preventing it from smashing into him, and Killer Bee used two of his swords to parry Yugito elongated claws.

"My shades are way too dark; you can't blind me with just a few little sparks!" Bee let loose a quick rhyme.

"And I could sense you malice from a mile away!" Naruto added in.

In retaliation, using the furnace on the back of his steam armor to increase his attacking power, Han was able to push Naruto away with his caught fist while Yugito's foot grew claws and swiped it at Killer Bee, forcing him to jump back.

The two quickly recovered and distanced themselves from the Edo Tensei zombies, perching themselves on the nearest tree they could to try and catch their breath and assess their situation.

"**Yugito's with them…they must be the other Jinchuuriki! And to make matters worse, all of them have the Sharingan in one eye and the Rinnegan in the other,**" the Hachibi spoke to Bee, "**Not only did he kill them all, he even implanted those nasty-ass eyes in them too…poor Yugito. If you had been caught they might've done the same to you…this isn't right…**" he said solemnly.

"Well I'm glad they didn't, because I ain't even curious, if that bastard messed me up like that I'd be furious." Bee added in, his tone hardening slightly to show he didn't like the situation any more than his Bijuu.

"**You'd still have your sunglasses either way though,**" the Eight-tails joked lightly despite the situation at hand, "**Anyway, stay sharp out there or you'll end up like them.**"

The two were then brought out from their conversation as they heard Naruto speak.

"Madara's eyes are the same, and this time his mask has two eyeholes!"

"It's custom made out of special materials that are more suited for war." Madara explained.

"So the other eye that you've been hiding was a Rinnegan, like Nagato and that other Madara," he said at that realization, much to the fake Madara's shock and confusion, "Well we're going to stop the _both_ of you!"

"'Other Madara'…" the fake whispered as a memory came to him, where that damned Kabuto had brought out the real Madara in front of him, and what had blackmailed him into letting the brat partake in the war. "God damn you, Kabuto…"

"What do you mean 'other' Madara, I thought Madara was this masked punk right here!"

The fake stood there in silence before he let out a short chuckle, sounding amused from behind his mask, "You can call me by my old name, Tobi, if you prefer. Since the war has already begun, my name no longer matters. Madara, Tobi…call me whatever you want."

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked gruffly, or at least tried to, seeing as his confused expression contradicted the way he was trying to sound.

"I'm no one. I don't want to _be_ anyone. All I care about is completing the Eye of the Moon plan…this world is completely worthless, there is nothing left in it except for misery."

At this acquisition, Naruto's glare hardened to the point they were like diamonds, but he refused to say anything while Tobi continued to rant.

"You two have grown up as hosts of tailed beasts, and you have endured the misery that has come from that role, have you not? You should understand that misery…a little."

That was when Naruto's boiling point was reach, "Living with a Bijuu inside of you…isn't all bad." he rebutted, unaware of Killer Bee smiling proudly at the younger Jinchuuriki.

And unaware to any of them, deep within Naruto's seal, the Kyuubi no Yoko was listening in to this conversation, looking visibly shocked at what his Jinchuuriki had just said.

"You can call yourself no one, you can start a war, but even in this world you think of as 'worthless', no one's falling for your dumbass lies," Naruto said fiercely, pointing at Tobi, "You can change your mask, you can even take on as many names as you want, but you're still you, and you're just one guy! I've had enough…I'm going to tear that mask right off your face!" he roared, slamming his fist into his open palm for emphasis.

"I'll go first, YEEEEAH!" Bee roared as he did his trademark pose with the added addition of a giant tentacle forming behind his back.

"If you want to see what's under my mask," Tobi said while idly taping his mask, "You're going to have to work for it."

At that point the deceased Jinchuuriki moved in front of Tobi, forming an honor guard of sorts, except they had now done the same thing as Bee and had each manifested a single tail that had been from each of their tailed beasts.

"Eight-tails, and Nine-tails…I will capture you both and complete the Eye of the Moon."

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><p>A young, hyperactive girl sprinted into the council room of the royal castle of the Kingdom of Edolas. Her attire consisted of a large headwear that had floppy dog-like ears that bounced behind her as she ran, and a large yellow gown with a blue and white collar with gloves, but the most unusual part about her was that she was barefooted.<p>

She continued to sprint across around the large table in the center of the room with ceaseless energy while the other occupants in the room watched her stopping in front of their majesty, King Faust, the ruler of Edolas himself.

Giving a sharp salute to the King and without a hint of fear or nervousness in front of the most powerful man in Edolas, she called out loudly, "Your Majesty, my apologies for the interruption, but the Magical Research and Development department has an urgent message to report."

The old king Faust looked down on the girl before him, his coal black eyes studying her critically, wondering why the young girl would choose to interrupt his meeting with his officers over the outlaw guilds within Edolas, "Coco, tell me why you chose to disrupt this meeting when I had specifically ordered it _not_ to be interrupted?" he asked, though it sounded more like an order.

The now identified Coco winced under his gaze before zooming around the room once again, small clouds of dust trailing after her. She stopped at the exact spot she had stood previously, her facial expression never changing as she replied, "I'm sorry your Majesty, but I have a very important report to give you that was sent from Chief Byro himself."

Coco could feel the room's other occupants, the commanders of the Four Magic War Divisions staring at her intently, Pantherlily, Erza Knightwalker, Hughes, and Sugarboy awaiting her report.

"The message then, Coco." Faust drawled, wanting to know what the source of this disturbance was, although his attention had become noticeably more focused now.

Coco gulped, but continued on while still saluting, "The Anima division has reported an abnormality regarding the magical activity of the inter-dimensional gate," she paused, appearing uncertain, "Chief Byro mentioned that this source wasn't located within-"

Her words died in her mouth as Byro, the Chief of Staff to the King, hastily entered the council room. This bald little man had an unnerving grin that could've been described as slightly demonic, possibly bordering insane with his eyebrows narrowed a bit and shot up to resemble what looked like tiny devil's horns, "Your Majesty, we found something, something amazing!" he cackled madly as he attempted to catch his breath.

He leaned forward in his chair, pressing his fingers together as he gazed intently at is oldest servant, "What is it?" he ordered.

"W-We've discovered and enormous amount of magical energy! The power reading we're getting from this source dwarfs everything we've ever had before combined your Majesty!" he announced, his eyes bulging out of his sockets and his body was trembling slightly at this new discovery.

"How is that possible? We would have discovered this source long ago if it was a large as you claim it to be?" the only other woman in the room asked. Erza Knightwalker was a beautiful well-endowed young woman with long, flowing, wavy red hair that reached past her back and wore a very provocative outfit with her spear, the Ten Commandments, resting by her side. She was easily the youngest commander there, maybe a year or two younger than Hughes, but seemed well content in the room.

"Knightwalker's right my lord, if what Byro is saying is true then why haven't we got wind of it before now, that kind of energy could have generated enough power to last us decades." Sugarboy, a tall man with blond hair and blue eyes stated. He had long sideburns extending to the ends of his face, while his hair took a more pompadour style, although his most unusual feature was his very noticeable cleft chin.

Byro, instead of looking insulted however, just kept his insane grin on his face, "Because...this source has come from an entirely different world!" he said through his maniacal laughter.

"WHAT!" every one of the commanders shouted and as one they stood up and began interrogating the old scientist.

"SILENCE," Faust roared, his eyes widened in shock at this revelation. The four commanders quieted down as they looked at their king; "Everyone, this meeting will adjourn until further notice." he told the others.

Pantherlily, who quite literally was a bipedal panther with black fur that was decked out in battle armor, however spoke up in objection at the sudden cancelation of the meeting, "Your Majesty, I must insist that we-"

Faust stroked his beard while he interrupted his commander of the First Division, "This is a more pressing matter that I must attend to for the moment Pantherlily. For now continue with the location and eradication of any dark guilds that dare to threaten the peace in our Kingdom. Any reports regarding the overall progress of the operation are to be presented during our next meeting. _That is all_," he ordered them, glaring at all the occupants in the room to do as they were told.

The occupants of the room nodded in understanding, offering their salutations to their King before swiftly exiting the room.

Faust watched as Byro closed the door to the council room after the last of the council members had trailed out. "Now tell me how this had happened." he asked impatiently.

His Chief of Staff smiled crookedly, "The magical technicians were doing their usual routine check-ups when they suddenly detected an enormous source of magical energy that was appearing within a different location than Earthland," He chuckled. "Your Majesty, the origin of the source belongs in another dimension entirely."

The King of Edolas slumped into his throne, slowly taking his crown off his head and using his free hand to massage his forehead while he tried to process this astounding new development. "A new dimension," he said in wonder, "Can it be possible?"

Byro nodded in response, "One must never underestimate the power of magic, your Majesty. It is logical to assume that with this new discovery that there could be hundreds of parallel dimensions that we've yet to discover, the untold power is potentially limitless!" he declared manically.

Faust allowed a grim smile to adorn his face, "And what of the Anima? Is it compatible to be used with this new dimension?" he questioned his Chief of Staff.

A devilish grin greeted him, "Oh yes, your Majesty, our technicians are in the process of charging the machine as we speak, it will be operational within a few moments."

"Excellent," The King said as he stood up, a maniacal grin on his face, "Can you imagine it, Byro? An entirely new dimension of untouched magic within our grasp!" he shouted hysterically, giving himself a deranged look.

"Yes your Majesty, it is truly a wondrous day for us to find this power. With it, all our goals could be accomplished so much sooner than we expected!"

A few moments past before he heard Faust speak again, "However, we must take the necessary steps to insure we capture as much of this new magic as possible in the new dimension without completely draining it. We still have Earthland after all, but we must have a little insurance if things were to go wrong." he said, absentmindedly stroking his beard as he faced Byro.

"Yes of course, my lord." Byro agreed as he bowed low to his request, and was about to turn to leave the room to attend to the urgent matter of charging the Anima before the King interrupted.

"Make sure nothing goes wrong Byro, otherwise the consequences will be severe..." the King trailed off, leaving the looming threat of failure over his head unclear.

Byro merely gave a bow to the King and left. His thoughts were a mess as he hurried to meet the technicians in charge of the Anima. It would be later in the day that the old man would get a terrible foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach, as though it was telling him he would regret this decision for years to come.

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><p>The battle between the Akatsuki leader and the Jinchuuriki continued to rage on as they fought to end this war once and for all. Despite both Killer Bee's and Naruto's valiant efforts, there seemed to be no stopping Tobi and his Six Paths of Pain.<p>

Due to their sudden tail transformations, Hachibi deduced that they must have had their Bijuu resealed into them because he could sense them in their hosts, but they seemed somehow different. As the battle began, it quickly became obvious who was on the offensive.

It was through the Rinnegan's shared field of vision that each of the Jinchuuriki were able to evade whatever attack Naruto or Bee through at them, and with the Sharingan backing them as well, they could react and coordinate to the most precise details, although the two were able to figure out where Tobi had placed the black chakra receivers that had been planted into the left side of their chests thanks to a bout between Yugito and Bee.

It was then that the Eight-tails and Bee agreed that the forest gave put them at too much of a disadvantage, and Bee transformed into his full Eight-tails form and used his _Bijuu Hachimaki_ to decimate the surrounding forest, leaving the ground bare and enabling them to see the temporarily downed Jinchuuriki.

Unfortunately, before the two seal or restrain them long enough to pull out the chakra receivers, Tobi reappeared next to his six paths and forced them all to transform at once into their strongest version two forms. The battle then took a turn for the worse as the Edo Tensei Jinchuuriki took to the offensive, overwhelming the two with a barrage of attacks and a fully transformed Five-tails.

Luckily, reinforcements came in the form of Kakashi and Gai with the two preventing a close call that would've ended up with Naruto being captured. It was then when they notice the Gobi charging toward them, attempting to attack the masked man, but was forcibly subdued by some unearthly chains, although not before it let out a cry of desperation for being controlled like it was that only Naruto, Bee, and their Bijuu could hear, and the Hachibi explaining that the tailed beasts have their own emotions and that it angered them for being controlled like that.

This instigated an argument between the Hachibi and the Kyuubi, with Kyuubi stating that the shinobi have only ever treated them as pets, and that Hachibi and Bee were the only exception. As their argument continued on the inside, on the outside, the battle was still going strong until the Four-tails and Six-tails fully transformed and the Four-tails ended up swallowing Naruto.

In some weird twist though, Naruto entered the area where the Yonbi was restrained by its seal, and the blonde was given its true name, Son Goku, and found out the true name to his Bijuu, Kurama. Naruto convinced Son that he truly wanted to be friends with the Bijuu and free them from Tobi and so the great ape explained how to set him free, which was via the chakra receiver at his neck.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto succeeded, although he was greatly drained, and to his dismay found out that Son had not been freed, but merely released from his Jinchuuriki. Naruto rebuttal his statement, clearly expressing that he wanted to set them completely free which impressed Son to the extent of giving him a parting gift before being sucked back into the _Gedou Mezou_.

Now we find our heroes facing down five fully transformed tailed beasts staring down on them, with an exhausted Naruto in his normal form, an injured Bee, and a tiring Kakashi and Gai.

"…**This is bad, no matter how you look at it. And you're about ready to fall over!**" Kurama observed as he pulled Naruto into the seal.

"…Just…you watch…me" Naruto wheezed out from his crouched state.

"**If you want me to lend you my power, I could, you know Naruto.**"

"You're a lot more talkative lately, you know that," the blonde commented as he shifted himself slowly to look at his Bijuu, "I'm happy you want to lend me your power, but before that there's something I need to talk to you about…"

Kurama gazed down at his Jinchuuriki with a puzzled expression; he had been expecting the blonde to agree straight away to his proposal, seeing as he was just going to give him his chakra and it alone like he had with Madara.

Naruto drew a shaking breath as he stumbled a bit to turn around to where he was facing the seal, "Thanks for the help back there…you know, with Madara. That really saved me."

"**Don't thank me, it's weird! I'd just rather be in your control than in Madara's, that's all,**" the giant fox rebutted hastily, if one weren't to know better, they might say he actually looked…flustered? "**And besides, because of this prison I'm in, I could only give you a small bit of my chakra! And now, I'm just interested in watching you fight some more so that I have a good way to kill some time!**"

"What th-I was thanking you, so why the hell are you getting mad at me for! I don't care if you keep glaring at me, but the least you could do is fix your response! Otherwi-!"

Naruto ceased speaking when he saw the enormous fist of Kurama's in front of him as far as the seal would allow him too with the fox himself looking at him expectantly with a…a grin on his face!

"Don't tell me…we're gonna play that chakra tug-of-war thing again…?"

Kurama seemed amused by this, "**Idiot! You don't have to do that this time…although I am a bit bored, so if you wanted to play, I wouldn't mind.**"

Naruto gazed uncertainly at the Bijuu for a split-second before he too grinned, and bumped his fist with the tailed beast. There was silence for a moment before they both broke out into a short laugh at something only the two of them knew about.

Back to the outside world, Naruto returned to his senses as he called out to his comrade, "Let's go Bee!"

"Okay, but I'm the leader of this duo this time. Makin' you fight on the front line like that would be a crime." The elder Jinchuuriki comment from his quick observation of the blonde.

The Hachibi was quick to add its input as well, "**Remember, we're up against five tailed beasts, so if you can't transform, then you'll have to come in as a support.**"

"Both you and the Hachibi are hurt, Bee…this isn't about who the support is and who's on the front line! We're going out together! Besides, we're actually a pair of duos, aren't we?"

Bee was stunned at those words, his mind racing at the magnitude of what Naruto had just said, "Naruto, don't tell me, the Nine-tails…" but before he could continue what he was saying, Naruto said something that further impressed upon what he had just said.

"I've still got a ton of power left!"

Back to his seal, Naruto began unweaving the seal that had locked Kyuubi in that prison for over sixteen years, and as it slowly unlocked itself, he couldn't help but remember what Iruka had said to Mizuki on the day that he had become a ninja, the day someone had finally acknowledged for who he was.

"…You aren't a monster fox anymore…you're one of my teammates from Konoha," he said, his back turned to the gigantic fox behind him, although he could sense his surprise all the same as the two looked forward, their mouths slowly forming into smiles as the gates flew open, "…Kurama…NOW LET'S GO!"

Naruto re-entered his Nine-tails Chakra Mode, but the shroud it normally took began to change drastically. It parted down the middle and opened into a large full-length cloak, revealing a black undergarment with magatama near his neck, while his seal's already numerous swirl-patterns on his body expanded to his hands and feet, opening out into complete, dark circles. His eyes had gained the slit pupils and his whisker marks had become thicker like they normally did in his other forms, and finally, nine tail-like appendages protruding forming from the cloak with lines running down the middle of each.

Bee stood in awe at what he saw before him, his only thoughts barely echoing through his head before his attention returned to the five Bijuu baring down on Kakashi and Gai with five Bijuudamas aimed right at them, he was so focused on what was happening that he never noticed as clouds began circling around a hole opened up in the sky above them.

"Naruto, they've got a huge problem! Five Bijuudamas at point-blank range!"

Too late, as soon as those words were spoken, the Bijuu let loose their attacks, intending to send their victims straight to hell.

"Right, I'm on it!" Naruto called out and in a yellow flash that was faster than anything his previous shroud had produced before, he moved past each of the tailed beast balls and redirecting them away from the two jonin before stopping in front of the two.

"_Wh-What is this speed!_" Gai thought as he shielded himself from the sudden gust that rushed past him and Kakashi.

Kakashi however, stared into the dust in shock because within that cloud he could make out an outline, one that he had not seen in over sixteen years.

"Se-Sensei!" he said in sheer disbelief.

"I-Is that Naruto!" Gai asked, bringing Kakashi out of his stupor and making him realize that the figure wasn't his old sensei, but it was his sensei's son.

Their eyes traveled over to the fleeting tailed beast balls as they impacted against the mountain tops and were speechless as the mountains were destroyed by the very attacks that had been aimed at them mere seconds ago.

"Is this the power of the Bijuu!" Gai had asked out loud, though he did not expect to receive an answer.

"The mountains…"

But before the either of them could say anything more, the Bijuu went on the offensive again and charged forward, forcing them on their guard and making Bee rush to intercept them. It was noteworthy that the only one who stood their calmly was Naruto, looking prepared for something big to happen.

"Here we go Kurama."

And with that one sentence Naruto's body began to shift slightly a giant mass quickly took his place. It was Naruto's first complete transformation into his full nine-tails mode. Instead of being a flesh and blood replica of Kurama though, it looked more like an enlarged version of the chakra shroud of his Nine-tails Chakra shroud, while even retaining the exact same seal on its body like Naruto's and having a translucent body that showed Naruto at the head and Kakashi and Gai inside the back.

He let loose a mighty roar that sent a shockwave through the five Bijuu, sending them barreling backwards with ease as the mighty Kyuubi Jinchuuriki stood his ground.

"Holy-did he finally pull off a full Bijuu transformation," Bee celebrated in disbelief at this revelation, or he did until he noticed something happening in the sky, "Hey Naruto, are you doing that up there too?"

"Up where," Naruto questioned him, and when he pointed up at the sky, Naruto's eyes followed until he spotted what his comrade was talking about, "Okay I'll bite, which one of them is doing that and how!"

The four ninja looked back and forth between the five tailed beasts, trying to discover which of their enemies had created this new jutsu that had been brought to the field, but upon noticing that none of them were doing anything, they weren't able to determine who was doing it, until…

"Whatever you all are planning to do up there, you're making it way too obvious." Tobi suddenly commented, which earned him confused stares.

"What we're doing! What the hell are you trying to pull…wait a minute, if you're not doing that, and we're not doing that, then who is?"

"I don't know about any of you, but I'm getting an ominous feeling from that thing, it doesn't feel right." Gai stated somewhat cautiously as the large whole began to expand, the clouds around it twisting together in a very ominous way.

However, before any of them could say anything further their bodies were suddenly enveloped in a shining light and they felt their bodies being lifted up into the sky. In an attempt to keep themselves on the ground the all the shinobi, living, or in full Bijuu mode, grabbed onto the earth.

"What the hell is going on!" Naruto roared as he noticed his grip beginning to slip.

"It seems we are all trying to be sucked into that thing in the sky," Tobi responded as he too felt the ground slipping out of his grasp, "Maybe Kabuto summoned a shinobi that had a jutsu that no one was aware of, but I highly doubt that! A technique of this magnitude would have been used during any of the great wars!"

"Then who'd be able to-AAHH SHIT!" Naruto tried saying but at that moment his claws were pulled off the ground and he along with Kakashi and Gai started flying into the sky.

"Naruto, you have to find something to stop yourself with!" Gai told the genin, although he was quickly reprimanded by both the blonde and white haired ninja.

"WITH WHAT!"

"**It's probably a bad time to bring this up, but whatever you're going to do, do it quickly. Our link from your first transformation is far from perfect; the amount of time you can keep this up is about five more minutes.**" Kurama decided on adding that useful bit of information just then.

"NOW'S WHEN YOU TELL ME!" Naruto shrieked at the top of his lungs…so much for newly found teamwork.

"Incoming!" Bee called out as he, Tobi, and the Bijuu finally lost their hold and where flown into the sky, crashing into Naruto's body.

"Shit, do any of you have anything that might stop this stupid thing!" he questioned the four as they continued their ascension into the sky.

"I've got nothing!" Bee replied as he resorted to try and swim through the air in his Bijuu form, resulting in him getting smacked in the head by an irritated Naruto and leaving a rather large bump on it.

"Mayb-" Gai began but was cut off by a loud noise that was approaching rapidly.

"WOULD SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF THIS GOD DAMN PUPPET ALREADY, I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA HURL!" came a familiar voice and the three turned to look at the rising Kuroari puppet coming towards them with some shinobi following after it at a shorter pace.

"Deidara," Naruto muttered upon recognition, sending out one of his tails to skillfully wrap itself around the puppet before reeling it in. Forcing the body open with another tail he found the bomb maker holding his hand against his mouth as he swayed back and forth inside Kuroari's body, looking a bit pale, even for a dead person, "Yo Deidara, not looking so good even though you're dead, eh?" he asked jokingly.

The deceased Akatsuki member stared at the fellow blonde, "Naruto? What the hell happened to you! Did you and your stylist have some sort of argument with your appearance?" he questioned the blonde as he jumped out of the puppet, which plummeted down to the ground after Deidara was removed from it.

"I really don't have time to be talking about this now." he ignored the jib as the two stared up at the ensuing vortex.

"Hey Naruto, doesn't this thing's pull remind you of that jutsu Nagato used?" Bee asked.

Upon hearing the question, Naruto's mind started recalling the earlier encounter with Itachi and Nagato, or more precisely, how Itachi was able to deduce the weakness of Nagato's Chibaku Tensei.

"Yeah! If this thing is anything similar to that, then we just have to find its weak point-" Naruto started.

"-And destroy it, it'll caused the jutsu to be cancelled out!" Bee finished.

Looking immensely pleased with themselves, the two turned their heads to look at the two jonin who were in a serious discussion over whether or not it could work, but it was another voice's approval that took them by surprise.

It was Tobi who had spoken out, but not before delivering his own criticism first, "Your theory is based on a jutsu that you had encountered and were able to see first-hand, but this something much bigger than the Chibaku Tensei, and we have no idea what the structure of this jutsu is like," letting out a frustrated sigh, he then said, "But it is the best plan that could work on such short notice, so I guess we have no choice but to go with it."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly as he glared at the masked man, "And why would you help us, wouldn't you rather have us too exhausted to fight you afterwards?"

"Make no mistake Kakashi, while I would rather have an easier time dealing with you all, I will not take a chance at the possibility of Naruto or Killer Bee being taken away from me," Tobi answered him.

"OI," Naruto interjected, making the two bring their attention to him, "We can go back to kicking each other's asses after we're done dealing with this thing!" and with that all hell broke loose as Naruto brought up his two hands and began gathering the chakra needed for the ultimate Bijuu technique.

"**Is he actually planning on using the Bijuudama now? But Naruto has never completed it before.**" Hachibi spoke up as Bee began charging his own tailed beast ball.

"_Heh he nearly did it in training now, it's the real thing now, he'll pull it off somehow!_"

Tobi wordlessly followed after them, forcibly compelling the Bijuu to gather together and combine their Bijuudamas into one gigantic mass of chakra.

Gai watched in both fascination and apprehension as he felt the chakra that was surrounding him, it was an unbelievable amount of pressure that was ensuing from the three concentrated balls of chakra, "My god, what is this…" when no reply came he turned toward his old comrade in arms, who was staring silently up at the vortex, "Kakashi…?"

Kakashi shook his head, "Not now Gai, I need to concentrate. If I hit the exact spot were their attacks will collide with my Kamui then I might be able to fuse them together into a huge blast radius."

"_Bijuudama!_"

As one, the three balls went soaring into the sky, sailing towards their designated point in an attempt to try and free their creators from the grasp of this unseen intruder.

"Looks like it's my turn now," Kakashi said in a sharp tone as his sharingan turned into its Mangekyou form, "_Kamui!_" he muttered and targeted the jutsu at the exact point where all the attacks would converge.

As one, the attacks hit in the same spot, erupting into an explosion of great proportions, and the glowing light around their body began to fade. They then felt a sudden falling sensation as they began to descend to the ground.

But before anyone could do or say anything, the light returned stronger than ever and the hole began twisting violently like a tornado, dragging them and others that were beginning to join them into the vortex at a faster pace.

"What the-! It's not stopping!" Naruto yelled as his full Nine-tails mode dissipated. He and the others began spinning around the whole at an increased pace and watched in amazement at how the light started to completely surround Deidara to the point the blonde couldn't see him anymore.

He was so preoccupied by what was happening to his enemy that he didn't see someone coming up to him until their heads collided with each other. Tenderly massaging the bruise on his head, he was surprised to see Shikamaru right next to him now.

"Shikamaru, you got caught up in this too!"

"Wha-Naruto, what the hell is going on! Actually, what the hell happened to you…man this is so troublesome…" Shikamaru let out a disgruntled groan as he ignored the blonde's look of outrage, only for it to increase as he pointed towards something the others hadn't spotted. "And I think it's just gotten worse."

Naruto's eyes followed where his friend was pointing and gasped. Another, smaller vortex had opened up just ahead of them, sucking up a handful of the people that had been dragged up into the sky while Tobi, the Bijuu, and the remainder of them missing it by mere inches while everyone else were heading right for it.

"Naruto, grab my arm!" Shikamaru ordered him as he, Kakashi, Bee who was now in his regular form, Gai, and Gaara huddled together, holding on to one another while he held out his hand to the blonde.

Naruto sent out another chakra arm to latch onto his friend's hand reeled himself into the little group, "Look at that," he told the others, making them look behind him to see the tunnel they had entered was now closing up, but not before they all heard Tobi bellowing in anger, "How do you think we'll get back home?"

"Naruto _pay attention,_" his sensei told him, stressing the word as he felt a tugging sensation wrapping around his waist, "This is most likely some kind of teleportation jutsu. That's why I want each of us to open some form of communication with headquarters in Kumo. Do you all understand?"

"But, how do we-" Naruto tried to say, but was cut off by Kakashi.

"_Do you understand!_" he repeated, his tone reflecting one of experience and knowledge. By now the sensation had gotten to the point where it was literally trying to drag him away from the others.

"…Yes…" Naruto said finally, his eyes not meeting his teacher's as a frown formed on his face.

Kakashi's mismatched eyes softened slightly as he watched his student's troubled expression. "Don't worry Naruto, once I'm done setting up communications I'll co-" he tried saying, but he and Gai were suddenly wrenched from the group and sent hurdling into the void.

"Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei," Naruto and Shikamaru cried out before the raven haired teen was ripped out of their group, following after the jonin, "Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled desperately, he was about to let go and dive after them, but a hand held him back.

"Naruto, calm down," Gaara reassured his friend, "Somehow, someway, all of us will see one another once again. This won't be the last we see each other."

It took the blonde a moment to register what his old friend was saying, "W-Wait, you two aren't leaving too! Just hold on and we'll make it through somehow!" he told them, but was met with grim looks.

"I am afraid Naruto, that we have no choice in the matter. Right now I am being dragged away from the two of you as we speak." Gaara explained stoically, though the grip on his hands tightened considerably.

"He's speaking the truth Naruto, this thing's grip has got a hold on me tight. I'm barely hanging on with all my might." Bee added with a forced grin.

"But maybe we can-" Naruto tried to say, but Gaara cut him off.

"We can what, Naruto? As of right now we are all being forced apart from one another through some unusual means of teleportation jutsu with part of our small group already being taken from us. The best strategy we have is that after we arrive to our destinations we begin our search for each other." the Kazekage spoke, his voice firm in his belief.

Naruto looked at him for a moment before looking at Bee, who was grinning at him, "You heard him bro, so quit crying and man up. We'll meet up soon enough if we have enough luck."

Naruto looked at the two, speechless at their sureness that they would see each other again. He met their smiles, thinking that it was a little too soon for him to start panicking, "You're right, and I will find you all and then we will go back home. That's a promise."

The former Ichibi and the Hachibi Jinchuuriki looked at each other before turning back to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, smiles spreading across their faces at they looked at him with expressions showing a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

"Well if it's like that then I'll be seeing you soon!" Bee said before releasing his hold on the two, roaring with laughter as he too was lost in the void.

"Crazy bastard…"

Gaara nodded, "I agree, but we're not that far off are we," he trailed off while Naruto gave him a worried look. First Nagato, now Gaara! The world must surely be coming to an end if he had heard those two try cracking jokes in the same day. "I guess this is where we say goodbye for now Naruto…" he commented as he gave his friend a firm grasp on the shoulder before letting go.

"I'll be seeing you later Gaara," Naruto yelled as he began flying off in a different direction and soon was enveloped in darkness. He braced himself for what was sure to be a rough impact when he noticed a growing ethereal light off to the side.

Craning his neck to get a better look, he saw that it was Sasuke of all people, using his new ghostly-shaped Susanoo as a source of light and as a shield to protect himself from anything that might harm him. Naruto then took notice of the fact that he was beginning to pick up speed and was heading right for him.

As Naruto began passing his old friend, Sasuke eyes made contact with him and in that moment, despite the differences in appearances and what was happening at the moment, a silent understanding past through them. They would have to postpone their long awaited fight for another time, preferably back in their homeland. Before any words could be spoken though, a bright light suddenly blinded them.

* * *

><p>"YOU USELESS FOOLS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Byro roared at the technicians in Anima chamber as he watched the machine that controlled the inter-dimensional gate shudder violently, his eyes widen in shock and his face had formed an ugly grimace.<p>

"N-Nothing sir, everything was going ac-according to p-procedure, but then some strange anomaly suddenly occurred," one of the technicians gathered the courage to speak, enough though it left him subjugated under the Chief of Staff's murderous glare. He spoke quickly, desiring to get the report over with as fast as possible, "T-The Anima seems to have received a negative effect from it, and as an unexpected result, it created a second gate," now this was the worst part of the report he wished to avoid, but unfortunately it must be done, "It seems while we managed to extract a few of the subjects we um…failed to extract the desired subject as planned, and it appears the uh, second gate that the Anima had formed has released into Earthland instead of Edolas."

Snarling menacingly, Byro slammed his fist into a nearby wall as he made his way out of the chamber, reading over the reports that the technicians had produced for him while thinking that they had clearly made some mistake. There was absolutely no way that the Anima was having such a problem, it was completely absurd.

Unfortunately, the more he read, the more the color drained from his face. Everything that he had read was proving him wrong, and there was something in there that only made the situation much, much worse. If what he was reading was correct along with his calculations, the gate the Anima had created for the new dimension was being closed off, making it impossible to extract anymore magic from it in the near future.

At this point, the little goblin-like man was running as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him, several technicians following close behind as he reached the nearest ledge he could find and went outside. Outside, he watched as a vortex opened high up in the sky, with what looked like several shining stars shooting out of it.

"Send an extraction team..." he muttered weakly, fists clenching the stone railings tightly.

"Sir?" one of the technicians said, a confused expression adorning his face.

"You heard me you fool, send an extraction team! I will not have this incident go down in complete and utter failure, now _move!_" Byro screamed at them all as veins appeared on his forehead.

"Yes, sir!" The technicians responded before scrambling into different directions to fulfill their orders, and to get as far away as possible from the fuming Chief of Staff.

Byro continued watching the flying lights as the past over the kingdom and into the wastelands outside, each one heading into a different direction than the rest. His hand was clutched against his chest as he felt his heart beating wildly in his chest as he reassured himself that it wasn't a complete loss today, although he would have to explain this incident to King Faust. The Anima closing itself from that dimension had been unexpected, but surely he could find a way to open it once more someday, but even worse than that, he had been unsuccessful in retrieving that huge source of magical energy, especially since the most recent records showed that it had increased immensely. That was the true loss in the current situation.

Suddenly, he remembered his King's words and he felt himself trembling at the thought of what he might have to endure once the King found out about this fiasco. The King was known and feared for his brutality in regards for a failure when it came to decisive operations, and it usually bode ill for those in command who failed him.

Byro however shook himself from those thoughts. Even though he had failed in extracting the desired source, he was still able to retrieve several powerful sources that would still benefit the King's plans, which might mean that his punishment would be lessened to an extent. With that in mind, he would pressure the extraction team to find all of them before the dark guilds caught wind of what they were doing, especially that accursed Fairy Tail.

Byro let out a tired sigh as he massaged his temples with his fingers. He knew the King would want a report soon on what was happening. Wiping the sweat on his forehead he slowly made his way the throne room, wishing he could find someone else to do this dreadful task instead of him.

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><p>A terrible thunderstorm was raging over the countryside of Fiore. It was so fierce that it forced the citizens to hold themselves up in their homes for protection as the thunder boomed loudly above their roofs. Lightning crackled violently as it struck the ground, destroying the earth around each bolt.<p>

A rare few were however, able to make out what looked to be a tornado forming in the sky, but that wasn't what was so special about what was happening. The most unusual thing about it was that several shooting stars were shooting out from the center of the vortex, spraying off into different directions as they shot out one by one.

One star shone brighter than the rest, having a more golden hue to it than the others. Inside this star was the sixteen year-old Jinchuuriki himself, his head covered by his hands as he quickly stole glances at different parts of his new location and at the other fleeting shinobi encased in their own stars.

His quick attempt at retrieving his bearing was cut off as he noticed that he was approach ground, fast. Thinking that his Nine-tails Chakra Mode might not have enough protection to have him come out of his impending crash, he began thinking of ways to try and cushion his fall.

Unfortunately for the blonde, any idea he had was instantly crushed to pieces when his protected head crashed into one of the tallest trees in the area. His arms flung out and his body turned to where his back was facing forward, the young shinobi was force to bear the assault of the next tree trunk that his body collided with, which caused Naruto's body to start spinning, alternating each following collision between his head, chest, back, and legs.

"_G-Got to s-stop this now before i-it gets worse…_" he thought to himself, gritting his teeth as his head went through another tree. Putting all the concentration that he could muster into this one thing, he sent out a chakra arm from his back to the nearest tree that he had passed and latched onto it.

What he didn't take into consideration was the speed that he was currently traveling and the force in which he put onto the trunk of the tree. So when his arm's tension had reached its maximum point, it basically slingshot him off to the side and into the ground, tearing up the earth.

Using his hands as a means to break his momentum, Naruto clawed into the ground and sent up waves of dirt and rubble until his back came in contact with a rather large stone that sent him into the air. Naruto let a yell of pain escape from his mouth, his eyes scrunched together. He forced an eye open and glanced at his hand, and was shocked to find that he was in his normal form again and that he was heading right for a giant boulder.

He had time only to process this one thought before his collision with the opposing stone "_Oh Fu-_" and that was when a loud cracking sound rang out and everything went black.

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><p><em>Well I hope that you all enjoyed this first chapter in what will hopefully be an excellent crossover. Here are some side notes aside from the little reminder that was made at the top of the page. Hopefully I'll see you all soon. Later!<em>

_A bit canon?:__ I admit that I was sticking to the manga a bit more than I intended to for this chapter, but I do think I evened it out a little in the end._

_Timeline:__ The story starts three years before the start of the main story, so Naruto, Erza and Mirajane are all sixteen and the year would be X781, the year Mira becomes an S-class wizard, since Lisanna's death is recorded in X782, which is a year after Mira became one._

_Naruto's Guild:__ Okay I'll be completely honest, I haven't exactly decided what to do with which guild Naruto's going to join. I just know I'll have him join Fairy Tail eventually. There are two options for this that may or may not be influenced by your vote. Options A is where Naruto will immediately join Fairy Tail, Options B is where Naruto joins Cait Shelter and then joins Fairy Tail after the Oracion Seis arc.(Lisanna still __'__dies__'__ in either scenario, so don't bother asking.) I'll have made my decision by the next few chapters, so post your vote via review!_

_Anima:__ Eh, it may be a used route, but it's the only route that made sense to me on getting Naruto to Earthland, though I decided on being a bit extreme with how to get there. But hey, three Bijuudamas and a space-time jutsu and pretty much anything can happen._

_Naruto's Power level:__ I know a lot of you are going to ask me this so I'm just going to get it out of the way and put it on a scale I think is pretty accurate for a time three years from the main series__._

_Normal Form:__ Naruto's power while not using sage mode or his power's as a Jinchuuriki are already on the same level as an S-class wizard. Speaking honestly, he's stronger than Mira or Erza, and is maybe stronger than Laxus. He could put a couple of dents in Gildarts (Not using Rasenshuriken of course),but he is by no means the strongest person out there._

_Sage Mode:__ Naruto's power in this form makes him on the same level, maybe a bit higher, as Gildarts (Who I'm assuming is about on the same level as Nagato), so the two of them going at it would be like two monsters trying to tear each other apart, though I'm sure Naruto would come out on top in the end._

_Nine-tails Chakra Mode (Version 1):__ Before anyone asks, yes I'm separating the original form from the new form (I'm making it easier for his opponents, otherwise it'd be too easy in a lot of cases). Here Naruto's power is probably on that of Makarov's. He's certainly the fastest out there, but I'll see where it goes with him and the foes he fights._

_Nine-tails Chakra Mode (Version 2):__ Naruto's new form, it hasn't really shown what it can do aside from what's already shown so I can't really judge it. It is safe to say though that Naruto is most likely stronger than anyone in Fairy Tail when using this form, and is certainly the fastest person alive while using it. You'd have to be insane to go up against him….OOOHHH Natsu__…_

_Tailed Beast Mode:__ This….Is….Just….Overkill. Enough said._

_Pairings:__ I'll just hold up on this for now. Don't want to be giving away everything now, do I?_


	2. Waking in a Strange Place

**I'm ALIVE!** **After all of these exhausting months I am finally back with the new chapter 2 for 'The Shadow of Fairy Tail'. First off I would like to apologize to everyone for turning it in so late when I had promised to get it out during the summer. Honestly I have no excuse for this and I'm not going to use work as an excuse. But I really need to stop making these promises if I'm going to keep breaking them.**

**But the good news is I'm trying to get back into writing with my spare time so one of my personal goals is to be able to come up with a new chapter for my stories in less than two months.**

**Now just a reminder to everyone, this isn't the original version of the story because I didn't have a backup for it after my flash drive was ruined beyond repair. So while I was able to recreate it with what I could, it won't be as good as the original so please don't expect something amazing.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Waking in a Strange Place<strong>

Pain, an unending and brutally agonizing pain. That was what Naruto had felt when he had finally regained conciseness. His body cringed and withered in silent torment as he endured this torture that erupted throughout his body.

As he drew a ragged breath to cope with the pain, it did no good as he felt a sharp stab shot through his chest and up his spine. He realized then that his ribs were broken.

With great difficulty and caution, Naruto made subtle observations on his body by carefully moving what he could. To his frustration he found that it was a struggle to move any part of his body with the most he being able to do is lift up for a second or two.

On the other hand though, it showed that everything was still intact somewhat, with the exception being his left arm. Nothing he did received any results from the battered arm, leading Naruto to believe that had broken the limb.

Furthermore, Naruto noticed a few other little details that were happening to him. His vision was heavily blurred to the point that nearly everything he saw was in a blackened haze. Not only that but his hearing had been muffled and added with a distinct ringing noise that greatly hampered his ability to hear just about anything.

Finally, Naruto felt a blaring headache along with a feeling of lightheadedness with it that might have been the signs of a concussion. With the way he was feeling right now, he wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out he had more than one concussion, given his tendency to overdo things.

Thankfully that seemed to be the end of his problems as he felt the cold droplets of rain spray over him, cooling his burning body.

"…_Rain? Oh yeah, it was storming pretty bad when I was falling…_" he thought to himself as the weather started to pour down harder. For some weird reason it made him wonder whether or not he had been knocked out long enough for the eye of the storm to come and pass. Or had the rain just let up for a little bit and is now picking itself back up.

It was strange what a person's mind could think about when they were in such an injured state.

As he lay there on that muddy ground staring blankly up at the darkness above him, Naruto let out a short, ragged breath of frustration.

He felt a part of him wanted to stay on the cold earth below him and fall back into a blissful sleep. While he did that he was sure that Kurama would start healing his wounds so that way when he woke up again he would be able to move freely.

Just as those thoughts appeared in his mind, suddenly it felt like a flame had been lit up inside of Naruto's head. It burned through him in a different manner than the pain that was coursing through his body.

There was no pain from this; it was nothing came from his battered and broken body. It was sheer determination and desire that was set ablaze in him. And from this fire that came from within him, those feelings had manifested into an idea.

He needed to get on his feet, to get up and find the others. That thought continuously resounded in his head. He needed to find his teachers, his friends, his comrades. To find them and return to the place where they all belonged. To return home.

So with a short grunt Naruto dug his good arm into the muddied ground below him and pushed against the limb with all the strength he could muster.

His body protested against such actions with another wave of pain that washed over Naruto, but the blonde shinobi gritted his teeth and fought through his turmoil. Slowly and shakily Naruto's body began to rise, his chest rising and falling with each short breath he took, so as to not risk puncturing a lung with his broken ribs. This method was effective in saving a vital organ, but it also caused his concussion to worsen somewhat, making Naruto stumble a bit.

His legs were trembling now, but Naruto held strong in his endeavor. He placed his broken arm into the ground as his new pillar of support despite how agonizingly painful it was, like a couple hundred razor sharp kunai knives digging themselves into said limb. But he refused to cry out, grinding his teeth instead while he forced his mouth to remain shut.

Placing his right arm onto his thigh to steady one of his legs that were rattling about, Naruto then pushed himself up and thereby releasing the stress that had been placed onto his left arm and finally allowing himself to stand completely up, albeit unsteadily.

Taking a few moments to take gain a foothold for himself, Naruto continued to breath in the same manner as before, taking in and releasing short consecutive breaths so as to not internally damage his body more than it already was.

At least now that he was doing anything but standing he didn't have to worry so much about his severely irritating concussion causing him to much trouble for now.

…Or so he thought as another sudden wave of lightheadedness struck him hard, which inadvertently allowed Naruto's legs to give out on him. And so Naruto fell back down to earth, hard. He crashed into the boulder that was a good portion of the reason he was hurting so much at the moment and cried out loudly when a newfound source of agony sparked up his back.

As he withered in this newfound hell, Naruto turned his head slightly and caught sight of something that had he hadn't a chance to notice before. In fact, what he was currently staring at explained quite a bit in how he got to be in this current predicament.

Next to him was the upside down outline of his body having been deeply imprinted into the boulder. There were several elongated cracks that had spread throughout the offending mound of rock, making it look like about half of it was going to fall off and become a pile of rubble.

What really irritated him though was that it looked what someone would put into a comic strip in an old newspaper back home for a few cheap laughs. Was his life really just being used as a source of entertainment for others? Ah fuck it; it doesn't matter at this point.

But back to our blonde hero, Naruto made for another valiant attempt at rising to his feet but was unfortunately met with his body finally giving out on him, forcing him to slump down against the boulder. Naruto reluctantly allowed himself to give in to his body's pleading and rest, if only long enough for Kurama to heal his body until getting to his feet wasn't such a hassle. So he settled himself into a more comfortable position and slowly began to allow himself to drift into a peaceful sleep.

Until he suddenly heard the sound of fallen branches cracking under the weight of something or someone stepping on it. It was a subtle enough sound that Naruto nearly missed it with the current range of his impaired hearing. But it was there, and it was steadily getting closer.

Naruto was immediately on his guard. Was this friend or foe, he couldn't be sure but he knew that either way it wouldn't do him any good just to simply sit where he was and allow whoever was out there to find him in his current state. Unfortunately for him though, his body was barely responding to anything he was telling it to do.

That's when a thought came to him; it was what the fake Madara had told them just before they had gotten sucked into that accursed vortex. It wasn't a technique that had been seen before in the long history of the shinobi or even Ninjutsu for that matter.

And if the way Tobi had been acting throughout the whole ordeal hadn't given it away, then it had to have been obvious by now that whoever had created that massive thing wasn't a part of the Akatsuki's plan's or one of the Shinobi Alliance.

Which meant that there was another power that was involved with the war, an unknown party that even the Akatsuki had been unaware of until they had finally saw an opportunity to strike? And to make matters worse, it seemed to be working at this point in time.

If their goal was to target and capture the nine Bijuu, then the method that had been used for acquiring them had been quite effective.

In fact, it might have been _too _effective considering the vortex had not only brought Killer Bee, the captured Tailed Beasts that Tobi had brought to the fight and himself for that matter. Bringing along Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and the other unfortunate people might have meant either the vortex didn't discriminate between targets. Or worse yet, that it was positioned over a given area and meant to bring in anything within a given radius.

So then the person slowly making their way towards him must have been a part of the second phase of the plan, the extraction phase or whatever one would call it at this point in time. All it meant was that there were multiple people sent to various points to pick up their assigned targets. In Naruto's hazy mind, he noticed that this was a bit extreme but it was still a very simplistic plan.

As these thoughts rang throughout his mind, Naruto noticed that the soft footsteps had slowed down considerably. Most likely they had found where Naruto had altered his course using his chakra arms earlier. It wouldn't take long before they would be on his trail again.

Naruto readjusted himself against the boulder, allowing himself to sit straight up. With a flick of his wrist a kunai slid into his right hand, arming the young Jinchuuriki as the sounds of the footsteps picked back up again.

He had armed himself with the intent of defending himself, although Naruto knew that at this point the most he could do was struggle a bit before his body gave out on him completely. And if whatever new organization that was after him sent only one person after him, then that one person had to be one of their best, like Itachi or Nagato.

It was frustrating, vexing even, that despite how far he had come, how much he had achieved within these past few months and now here he was with an utterly useless body and not enough chakra left in his system to even conjure a single Kage Bunshin.

And all this happened just because he and the others had been taken by surprise by a stupid jutsu that no one seemed to know about.

As these thought rang through his mind, Naruto could only come up with very Naruto-like rebuttal to it all. He'd be damned if he had to go out like this! If he was going to be taken then he would fight tooth and nail to keep himself out of the enemies' clutches for as long as possible.

By this time the sounds of footsteps had picked up again and were much closer than they had been before. The rustling of the nearby shrubbery indicated that it would only be a few more seconds until his foe was upon him. Preparing himself, Naruto gently positioned the kunai in his hand to where it was safely hidden in his sleeve.

Mere moments had passed before the bushes across from Naruto started shaking, and the enemy he had anticipated finally revealed themselves.

Brown knee-length boots were complimented with a grey rain coat that covered the person's obviously feminine body, if the natural physique wasn't lying to Naruto. Her face was partially hidden due to the hood covering the upper part of her features, but what Naruto was able to see was the concerned frown that was adorned on her face. Other than her articles of clothing, he saw that she wasn't armed in the slightest, not even so much as a piece of rope.

Personally, Naruto found that to be a little insulting. Even if he was being a little egotistical like Ero-Sennin tended to be, he was still an unofficial S-rank ninja, and this girl in front of him looked as if she hadn't come prepared to confront him at all.

…A little voice inside his head hoped to god that she didn't have the same monstrous strength as Sakura and Tsunade…

But he knew something wasn't right here, and it all had something to do with the new arrival.

Blinking through his hazy eyes, Naruto determined that the young woman in front of him didn't seem to have any ill intent towards him. There were no signs of hostility in her posture or in her attitude. She was going as far as to hold out her hands, palms up, to show she was unarmed and even giving him a comforting smile to boot.

Nothing she did radiated of hostility towards him, making it seem like she was just a random girl that had come across him by some weird coincidence.

So that begged the question, was she really here to capture him?

As he pondered these queries of his, a feeling of tiredness washed over him, nearly causing Naruto to black out right then and there. His body had passed its limit and was now running on fumes.

Shaking the darkness out of his head Naruto looked up just in time to see the girl finish saying something that his impaired hearing hadn't been able to pick up in time. So using what little remained in him, Naruto let out a low, guttural sound from his mouth in the form of the word 'Huh?'

She flinched slightly upon hearing the hoarse sounding quality of the blonde's voice. It was something that one would normally hear from an injured animal instead of a human. But her lips curved back up into a caring smile once she realized that the young man was still aware of his surroundings.

Taking a small breath, she repeated the words that she had spoken to him seconds ago.

"Would you let me take you somewhere safe?"

Silence followed after the sentence left her mouth, not even the light downpour seemed to be making a sound as she stared at the fallen blonde. However, she took noticed of his now cloudy blue eyes as they registered what she had said. Immediately afterwards, Naruto's head sunk down to his chest as his body finally gave into blissful unconsciousness.

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><p>(XxX)<p>

Regaining consciousness didn't come easy to someone like Uzumaki Naruto. When he already slept like a log to begin with, coming back too would have taken something like a horde of elephants stampeding past his home, or something of the same equivalent. Especially since he was feeling so comfortable at the moment with whatever it was he was sleeping.

Remarkably though, after the initial kick it wasn't that hard to gather his wits about him.

"**Well what do you know Naruto,**" he heard the deep, amused-sounding voice that came from within him; "**It seems there is a god that loves fools.**"

"_Kurama?_" Naruto grumbled, slightly taken aback at the Bijuu's teasing tone. Well that was a sure sign to the blonde that it was time to get up and greet a new day with a radiant grin.

Bright, vibrant**,** blue eyes came to face a blinding white light the moment they were opened. Letting out a strangled yelp, the blonde Jinchuuriki quickly closed his eyes while furiously rubbing them with his right hand.

Once the aching had subsided Naruto released his hold on his face while still keeping his eyes closed, choosing to give them a minute or two to adjust themselves.

After he felt he had given them enough time, he slowly opened his eyes once again. And lucky for Naruto, this time he wasn't blinded right at the start. So taking the initiative he chose to look around and observe his new surroundings.

It was a plain white room that had nothing out of the ordinary in it. In fact, it really looked like the standard room one would find at the hospital in Konoha. There was a small drawer next to his bed, a set of cabinets against the wall to his left as well as a counter below it. To top it all off, there were two windows to his right display a bright and sunny day.

Seriously, it was so alike that he felt that he wouldn't have been surprised if Tsunade would suddenly come through that door as if nothing was wrong. Naruto found it to be that weird.

Waving those thoughts away, the young Jinchuuriki decided to do a quick check on his person.

Looking down at himself, Naruto was surprised to find that he was now wearing a simple white T-shirt, and after lifting up the covers with his right hand, his usual pair of black boxer shorts instead of his usual attire. As if that wasn't enough, he had bandages all across his body where he had been patched up, including his head and especially his left arm. Said limb was now thoroughly wrapped up and put into a sling, preventing any sort of movement from the blonde.

Besides the already noticeable injuries that he had, his whole body ached with a horrid soreness that he hadn't noticed until he tried moving. It was the kind that made people wish they hadn't woken up in the first place so that they could continue to ignore it in their ignorant sleep. Alas, the poor boy wasn't usually one of those lucky few.

Still though, whoever had treated him had done professional-grade work from what he could see, and having seen the handiwork of his teammate and his grandmother figure with his own two eyes, knew when whether or not he was given expert treatment.

Resting his head back onto his feathery pillow, Naruto looked out the window to observe the bright day ahead. And yet, looking at this scenery brought a thought to his head that need answering. And he knew who to go to for it.

"_Hey Kurama, how long have I been out?_" he questioned his Bijuu, turning his attention to the gargantuan fox that reside within him.

"**You've been unconscious for about a day and a half,**" rumbled the Nine-tailed fox, although it sounded more akin to restrained chuckling. "**With the amount of injuries that you obtained any normal individual would still be asleep for a few more days.**" Despite the intense hatred, or rather mild annoyance at this point, that he felt for the Uzumaki clan their vitality was still very impressive in his eyes.

"_That long? I must've been more exhausted than I thought._"

"**Oh? Being a cocky little shit today aren't you?**" Kurama teased his little Jinchuuriki.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the comment. It gave him a warm feeling, joking around with Kurama like this when it wasn't even a week ago that they still hated one another. And now they were acting like what normal friends do.

"_Maybe, but you know it's hard trying to not be as awesome as I usually am,_" Naruto joked, eliciting a laugh from the giant fox. But his smile felt hollow and didn't last as long as he wanted it to, because there were still things that he needed to find out.

His expression turning serious again, Naruto resumed his questioning, "_So where are we?_"

Noticing the blonde's demeanor, Kurama followed suitceased laughter and focused his attention back onto Naruto.

"**We're currently in a small village that that girl brought you to. It's close to where you ended up crash landing, so she was able to carry you here and into the local clinic without much trouble**."

"_And you just _let _me be carried away by a total stranger,_" he questioned his newly-made partner, glaring accusingly at him as it brought about another little detail he forgot about, "_That reminds me, where were you when all that was going down? _"

From Naruto's tone, Kurama could tell that he was more than a little miffed with him, and who could blame him when just a day and a half ago the blonde had declared the Bijuu to be his comrade and partner.

"**Well while **_**someone**_** decided to get himself seriously injured, **_**I**_** was busy healing him so that he wouldn't be in pain for the next few weeks,**" the fox spoke humorously albeit with a little condescension in it, "**And in case you forgot, I can sense negative emotions from within you and that girl didn't have an ounce of hostility in her, and if she did then I would have forced you to switch out with me so that I could stop her from doing anything."**

With that being said, a sheepish Naruto had the good grace to look away while his cheeks burned a bright red. He would've scratched the back of his head, but he didn't feel like moving his arms too much.

Coughing abruptly, our blonde knucklehead decided to change the direction this conversation was heading to by resuming where they had last left off.

And personally, this was what Naruto was more concerned about than anything else, besides the location of the others of course.

"_Alright, alright I get it, sorry about that. Now back to what we were talking about. Now where are we location-wise?_" Naruto stressed this part carefully. It was one thing to know where you were currently at, but he that wasn't what he was concerned about.

But silence was all that greeted the shinobi; it was if the Bijuu was dreading when this moment would come and that he would have to be the one to tell him. Kurama knew what Naruto wanted, but found it difficult to form the words that he needed to say. However, they were at this crossroad and it needed to be crossed.

"**Naruto...I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I don't know where we are,**" Kurama said solemnly, "**Nothing within the vicinity that I have been able to see shows any sort of discernible landmark or landmass that could be used to tell us where we are.**"

"_What!? Are you serious!?_" Naruto all but verbally shrieked. It echoed throughout Kurama's home within the seal, reverberating painfully in his ears to the point that he took two of his tails and stuffed them into his ears to dampen the sound.

When the repeating screams had finally ceased, the Bijuu slowly took his tails from his ears. Rubbing his head attentively, Kurama then let out a deep sigh before deciding to speak about a theory that he devised while Naruto was unconscious.

Unfortunately, before he could even begin to utter a word his Jinchuuriki beat him to the punch.

"_Do you mean we're somewhere like Tetsu no Kuni, or somewhere Ero-sennin never showed me before?_"

"….**It's worse than that I'm afraid. From what I've been able to gather, I don't think we are even in the Elemental Countries anymore, let alone one of the more uncharted nations. And…it's not just that, there is a weird feeling about this place, something unusual that I can't describe.**" Kurama explained, somewhat unwilling to share his thoughts, but he knew that he needed to, for Naruto's sake.

Naruto closed his eyes while he processed what Kurama had said, although he didn't want to believe these words. He didn't even want to hear them right now, but there seemed to be no other conclusion.

"_Well this bites,_" he finally said after having laid there in silence for a few minutes. At this point, he had no other choice but to accept what his partner was saying, or at least until something came up that said otherwise, "_So what do we do now?_"

"**Live. Survive. Do what must be done until a way home is presented.**" Kurama stated in a calming voice, nodding his head sagely towards his Jinchuuriki.

That left the blonde speechless and unable to come up with anything to rebuttal with. Then again, it was hard for him to argue when others started being all philosophical on him.

"_Well it could be worse; at least we're not alone._" There was that silver lining no matter what happened to them.

They were stuck with each other until death, and with their newfound camaraderie they now have each other's back. They would fight together as one, just like Killer Bee and the Hachibi.

Kurama couldn't hold back a knowing smirk, because to him it was a very Naruto thing to say. To look at this current situation and somehow being able to think about something positive. His Jinchuuriki really was unique, Kurama would never deny this.

"…**Yes there is always that…**" he stated, lowering his head down to his crossed claws while allowing his gigantic, nine tails to swish from side to side in a content manner. But then suddenly something caught his attention and he perked up, trying to find out what it was.

"_What? What's wrong Kurama?_" Naruto tilted his head with a confused expression while wondering what he was so concerned about.

"**There are two people outside whispering to one another.**" he responded simply, still keeping his attention on what was happening on the other side of that door.

The deadpan look on Naruto's face obviously said 'That's it' with a disappointed expression following soon after. Then again it wasn't like the sealed tailed beast had anything to entertain himself with while he was stuck inside him. Maybe eavesdropping on others was something he did to pass the time?

Turning to the door, Naruto heard the hushed voices from outside the door but couldn't make out what the words were exactly. Their quite murmurs were most likely so as to not disturb him, meaning they might be the ones who treated him. And from the subtle tones and noises that he could detect, Naruto was able to determine that they were an elderly man and a young woman.

"_I wonder what they're talking about,_" Naruto wondered. "_What do you think Kurama?_"

But he received no answer from his furry friend. In fact it seemed like everything about the ancient beast had gone silent, even his very breathing had halted. It was like he had turned into a statue.

Had he heard something that threw him off of his usual demeanor?

"_Kurama? Earth to Kurama! Is anybody in there!?_"

"**Hush! Be quiet for a few minutes and listen.**"

Naruto jumped after hearing the tone in Kurama's voice. It sounded rattled, almost shaken or worse yet…frightened.

And on a totally unrelated note, it was kind of weird that Kurama heard what they were talking about when it was technically through Naruto that he was able to hear what was going on outside.

Quite the odd circumstance indeed.

But back to why Naruto was so stunned from hearing Kurama sound the way he did. The reason wasn't some big mystery question one would find in a novel they were reading. No, it was much simpler than that.

For all the years that Naruto had known him, he had never once heard him sound scared of anything before. Pissed off and angry, yes-_hell yes_, but never afraid. And just hearing his newly made partner having even a hint of that made him wary of what was currently happening.

So he scrunched up his face in concentration as he tried to decipher what the two were saying.

"_It's astounding, simply astounding! It's unlike anything that I have seen before!_" came the voice of the elderly man. But with the amount of excitement he conveyed, he sounded more like a child that had just stumbled upon something amazing.

He was talking so quickly that he barely even allowed the second person a chance to speak.

"_What is it Reigus-san? Is he taking to your treatment better than the other patients do?_" the second voice asked with innocent curiosity. It took but a moment for Naruto to realize that it belonged to the girl that had found him in rain.

"_No, it's not that. It's the fact that his body has been mending itself at a tremendous pace that I've never seen before!_"

Taking in a deep breath, the now identified Reigus-san went into further explanation.

"_After he brought here his body started healing itself before I could administer any medicine. At first I thought it might have been a defense mechanism to prevent further damage from happening. But in a day's time most of the serious injuries that he had obtained were completely healed, as if they hadn't been there in the first place! He must possess a healing ability that's near the point of regeneration!_"

"_But Reigus-san, how is that possible? Nothing in any of the books that you gave me mentioned anything like it._" from the way she was speaking, Naruto assumed that like in the Elemental Nations, the people here had rarely seen something like his abnormal healing factor.

"_Ah, but Alice-kun that is what makes it so amazing! To have the ability to be able to automatically restore any injury sustained like the ones this young man has within a day is unheard of. The capabilities for this could be limitless for any number of fields. And if he can do something of this magnitude while unconscious, imagine what he could do when he's awake!_" following this, the sound of hearty laughter could be heard reverberating from the walls.

Naruto's eyebrows rose slightly while keeping a neutral expression. He had to admit it though, this Reigus person was, he seemed to be an excitable person when something unique showed up at his doorstep. And if Kurama wasn't sensing any negative emotions at this point then he must've been alright in some sense.

He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when he noticed the doorknob being turned carefully. The door opened and a single person came in with their back turned to him as they closed the door. It didn't take a lazy-ass genius with an IQ of 200 to know who this person was once they turned to face Naruto.

Warm, gentle, dark brown eyes widen themselves in display of shock in an otherwise neutral but kind face. Looking over the rest of his appearance, Naruto had to admit that this man had a since of style about him.

His grey hair was shoulder-length, wavy and had been slicked back. His elderly features put him somewhere between Jiraiya and the Sandaime Hokage, since it was the closest comparison the blonde could make, maybe about sixty-three?

His attire was very professional though, consisting of a typical white doctor's coat. Underneath that article of clothing was finely-made button-up shirt and black dress pants.

Undoubtedly this man was the Reigus-san that had been speaking to the girl outside of his room. The way that he carried himself was like that of a veteran, a true professional like the way Naruto had seen Tsunade act when she was treating people at the hospital. This feeling was amplified by the way he seemed to exude an aura that reminded Naruto of Sarutobi, like that of a wise man that seen and done many things in his long life.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect you to wake up so soon." he said in an amused voice as he moved closer to his patient.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but was silence immediately when Reigus held up his hand.

"Please wait for a few minutes before you speak. I have a few things to check, so it would be better for you to conserve your energy."

At his urging, Naruto closed his mouth with an audible click sounding out and nodded dumbly. It was the doctor's orders so who was he to argue with him, especially when he was more concerned for his wellbeing instead of getting answers.

Nodding his head approvingly at the blonde's compliance, Reigus then turned to the counter behind him. He pulled open a few drawers and rummaged through them, clearly looking for something. It took a few seconds but he finally managed to find what he was looking for and pulled out a small light from one of the drawers. Seemingly satisfied, he then tuned back to the waiting Naruto.

"Now would you follow the light with your eyes please?" he asked while turning on the light.

Naruto did as he was told and slowly followed the glaring light as it moved from the right to the left periodically. After repeating this two-three more times Reigus then requested for the blonde to open his mouth and observed his throat, then after that his ears. Nodding his head satisfactorily, the old doctor set the light down back on the night stand.

Next, Reigus took his right hand and gently placed it on top of Naruto's left arm, resulting in the ninja letting out a sharp hiss of pain. Of course the doctor didn't miss this reaction, but he was nodding his head as if he expected it.

He then moved to another part of the blonde's bandaged body, never taking his eyes of Naruto's face. This went on for several minutes, with Reigus' hand traveling all over Naruto's frame. And it sometimes wasn't as simple as touching; he would also occasionally apply pressure to his palm or poke his fingers at a certain spot.

And while he did this he continued to stare at Naruto's face, looking for any changes in his expression or any noises or reactions that he would make when he touched a specific point.

When he was finished, Reigus stood up straight and idly scratched his chin as he looked up in thought.

"Interesting….It seems that all of your more pressing injuries have healed perfectly but the lesser injuries have yet to heal. It seems your recovery ability assesses the level of seriousness in your injuries and chooses what needs to be healed first," he tried to analysis Naruto's unique ability under his breath, but it was still audible enough for Naruto to hear it.

And he almost let out a snort because of it. The poor fool; he didn't know how wrong he was. Good try though.

Reigus raised his head, having finished his quick hypothesis, and looked at the genin thoughtfully. "Ah, but where are my manners. Reigus Solus, at your service."

He held out his hand for Naruto to take with his good hand which he gratefully took. It seemed he finally had the doctor's clearance to speak, and what better way to use it than to introduce oneself.

"Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto." he flinched from hearing how hoarse his voice sounded. It sounded more akin to a beast's growl than human words. God he sounded horrible.

But Reigus was ignoring the ear-grating noise that was Naruto's voice, mostly because he had lost himself in his own little world.

"Ah. A very unusual name. Not commonly found here. The way you introduced yourself and your appearance indicates a foreign culture. An immigrant perhaps? Too well-armed to be a civilian. A soldier, maybe a new member to a guild? Most likely, explains the amount of destruction found near you."

Naruto just sat there with mouth hanging down loosely while the doctor did his own little impression of a hamster on coffee. The rapid-fire speech continued at n ever alarming pace that it made him fear for the man's life if he didn't get a breath in soon.

Coughing abruptly, the blonde was able to redirect his physician's attention back to himself again. And thank goodness for that because the deep breaths and the slightly reddish tint on his face were kinda scaring him.

"How…did you know….That I'm, not from here?"

A chuckle sprang forth from Reigus, as if he found that question amusing for some reason. Maybe it was some sort of local humor, or did the old man have some screws loose?

"It's a simple process of observation my young friend. Generally whenever someone creates the amount of destruction that you did, they are either foreigners or from Fairy Tail. And nothing about you shows any relation to Fairy Tail, so it stands to reason that you must be the former."

"_Fairy Tail? What is that?_" Naruto pondered for a moment before dismissing the thought. It didn't really have anything to do with him so why should he bother with it. "Where…am I?" he managed to croak out.

A typical question for someone that was in Naruto's shoes because it was natural human curiosity to want to know where one was after waking up in a strange place .But by the doctor's own perspective; he suspected what the real meaning behind the young man's question was. And therein laid a prickly problem.

Reigus gave him a perturbed look as if he was internally debating on how much he should say. "Ah yes, I suppose that I should at least tell you that much. This small village Naruto-kun resides within the Kingdom of Fiore."

Here it was, the little piece of information that would either deny or confirm Kurama's words. And it just so happened to be the latter. Worse yet, he now learned his was in a nation-a _Kingdom_ no less- and it was one that he had never heard about before, not even a little tidbit

But having been told beforehand helped with the coping so he wasn't going to go into a panic attack or anything.

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Naruto allowed his gaze to slowly travel upwards towards the ceiling for a few seconds then back down to Reigus' face.

"Then…how far is, Fiore from…the Elemental Nations?"

A puzzled expression came across the good doctor's face and his gaze did an once-over while looking as if he had missed something. "I'm sorry; could you say that one more time please?"

"I am from…the Elemental Nations…."

Reigus's face grew turned a stoic, almost stony expression that alarmed the ailing youth. Did he say something wrong, or was this because of where he was born?

A moment of silence passed before Reigus proceed to answer the blonde's question. "I'm sorry to say this Naruto-kun, but I have never heard of a country call the Elemental Nations before. I far as I know there has never been a country called that."

A dead silence followed suit, with neither party so much as even making an audible breath. But sooner or later someone had to break the tension, and it had to be the poor sap receiving the news.

"…Wh-What," Naruto fumbled with his words, trying his hardest to speak with his screwed up voice. "H-How, is that p-possible?"

But not even a whisper left his mouth, as if his voice had failed Naruto. With his heartbeat pounding viciously against his chest, Naruto's breathing became heavily labored and his mind stopped working instantly. But somehow even in this incoherent state Naruto was still able to understand that he was having a panic attack.

And honestly, who could blame the poor boy after what he had just heard?

Before his condition could worsen however, a hand had suddenly pressed itself against his chest. A mint greenish hue could be seen in-between Reigus' hand and Naruto's body, and the feeling of calmness suddenly bathed over Naruto, slowly setting his heart at ease.

"Deep breaths, keep taking deep breaths Naruto-kun." Reigus said in a soothing tone.

He kept repeating those words over and over again, like a mantra of sorts. When it finally felt like Naruto's heartbeat had steadied itself the good doctor ceased the energy flowing through his fingers and removed his them swiftly.

"T know it is hard, but I would like you to set aside those thoughts for now. At least until your body has recovered."

It might have sounded like a request, but Naruto knew a doctor's orders when he heard them. Strangely though, he couldn't find it in himself to argue against Reigus, or think anything remotely akin to anger or sadness. It was as if all the negative emotions he should be experiencing at this point had been drained away, leaving him in a state of calm and content.

Weird…and spooky were the best words he could use to describe how he was suddenly feeling, but he would put up with it for the time being. It's not like he could find the urge to resist anyway.

So nodding his head reluctantly, the young sage aw the old doctor let out a sigh of relief, clearly pleased with his now docile patient.

"Splendid! Now then let's-" Reigus started to say, but he was cut off by the sound of knocking coming from the other side of the door.

Sparing the blonde a quick glance, Reigus turned expectantly to the door "Ah, right on time! Come in!" he called out.

As the doorknob turned, Naruto's gaze lazily idled to the wooden door, glumly expecting some random assistant.

But when the door opened he received quite the surprise.

"_Sakura-chan!?_" his body bolting up, Naruto didn't fully comprehend how he wasn't able to shout out the name of his squad mate, much less spring from his bed to hug her vigorously. But after the initial reaction, Naruto saw that while one specific feature was similar, the young woman in front of him was an entirely different person.

Really the only similarly the two possessed was the vibrant pink hair, and even then they styled their hair differently.

She looked to be about Naruto's age, and was maybe a few inches shorter than him. She possessed lively, violet eyes that seemed to shine like jewels. She had her ankle-length, bright pink hair styled in what look twin tails that curl outward once it reached her thighs and then back inward at her calves, and then they point outward again at the tips.

She wore a simple white blouse that with a crimson colored skirt, and to top it all off she wore white shoes and black knee-length socks.

In her arms was a small box of assorted ingredients that Naruto couldn't identify, although it was to be expected seeing how he had no real knowledge of medicine.

"Reigus-san, I've brought the supplies you asked for." she said in a cheerful voice before handing the box over to the doctor.

"Thank you Alice-kun, just in time I might add," Reigus commented, gesturing to the blonde in the bed, "I believe you two haven't met officially."

He left the sentence hanging, obviously creating an opening for introductions.

The now identified Alice, offhandedly another strange name to the blonde, nodded in confirmation and turned her attention to Naruto.

"We didn't get much of a chance to introduce ourselves last time. My name is Alice Ashcroft." She greeted him formally, even giving a small smile to Naruto.

Naruto returned it with one of his own, "I'm Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. Thanks for saving me back there." he let out a small chuckle when Alice flinched from hearing the harsh quality in his voice. Obviously it wasn't just himself that thought he sounded horrible.

But Alice quickly recovered her wits and waved the gratitude away, "It was nothing, really. What kind of person would I be if I were to just ignore a person in your condition?" she responded in a humbling way, and bringing out one of Naruto's more foxlike grins.

"Still, thank you for, doing that." Naruto carried on with his gratitude, and he meant every word of it. His mind swarmed with thoughts of what might have happened if he hadn't been found. He was sure he wouldn't have died, but there were many other possibilities that came to mind.

"If you insist Naruto-san," Alice said, before she seemed to realize something that resulted in her bopping her fist into her open hand, "I just remembered! You were still unconscious when I brought you into the village, so you don't know where you are, do you?" she questioned him and received a single nodding of the head in return.

"Then allow me to formally welcome you to Riverwood Naruto-san!" she said excitedly before giving him another bow, this time in a more formal fashion. Naruto couldn't help but join in on the giddiness that she was exuding.

She seemed to have a thing for etiquette, this girl. But she like a very nice person from what he could tell, and she even went out of her way to save a complete stranger, so that made her aces in Naruto's book.

"Well look at how close you two have become already! And you've only known each other for less than a day!" Reigus commented innocently from where he was seated next to the counter, his attention never diverting from the ingredients he was mixing together. But if either of the teens looked closer, they would've been able to spot the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Wh-Wh-What are you saying Reigus-san!" Alice suddenly stuttered her face flaring up like a cherry while she poked her index fingers together in a manner reminiscent of Hinata. Her eyes were adverted to the ground, so as to avoided eye contact with anyone.

Now being the apprentice of a world-class, if not the _greatest_, pervert like Jiraiya, Naruto had been taught many things from his master. Some of them he would try to make sure would never see the light of day again lest he receive unimaginable punishment from the opposite sex.

But if there was one thing in that vast repertoire that could honestly be helpful to Naruto's career as a ninja, it was that he had been taught how to notice the smallest of characteristics in a person so that he could better understand them, particularly women in this regard.

And from what these powers of observation were telling him was that the poor girl seemed to possess a very weak tolerance towards any sort of teasing. She was just an innocent young woman who just wasn't accustom to those little kinds of jokes, which hinted that Alice had was very mature for her age and had been so for some years now.

"_Wait a minute. Why haven't I tried using this skill before? I can think of over a dozen times when this could've been useful!_" Naruto mentally berated himself. But then again when thinking about the man that had taught this little ability he should have expect that thirteen year-old Naruto might have put it in the '_Never Use_' file in his brain and forgot about it.

"**Maybe you could have used it to make sure you actually kissed someone other than Sasuke before you landed us here!**" Kurama chimed in before he started howling with laughter.

Hey they might be friends now but that wasn't going to stop him from taking a cheap shot when he saw the opportunity.

"_OH MY GO-don't throw up, don't throw up! Whatever you do Uzumaki don't puke!_" Naruto screamed this in his head, forcing down his urge to vomit. It wouldn't do him any good to let loose the content in his stomach upon his guests.

Luckily his attention had been diverted upon smell something so foul it made the hairs on his arms stand straight up. Looking underneath him, Naruto saw a small cup being held parallel to his chest and the murky brown liquid that sloshed around it.

"Drink this Naruto-kun, this medicine is design to put you to peaceful sleep while it helps speed along your recovery. By the time you wake up you should be nearly healed." Reigus explained as he placed the cup into the boy's hands, encouraging him to take the medicine.

But just the putrid smell that wafted through his nose brought back the urge to spew whatever was left in his stomach and then some. It actually made his stomach churn more than Sakura's homemade soldier pills.

Still, the blonde gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and swallowed the thing in one sitting. The taste was to be expected, but the after taste was absolutely horrid. It was by far the worst thing he had ever tasted in his life!

"Splendid, now while you are asleep, we will be changing your bandages. So just lie down and make yourself comfortable Naruto-kun. Alice-kun, could you get the roll of bandages from the top shelf please?"

"Yes Reigus-san." The pinkette replied dutifully before extending her right hand out. To Naruto's shock two small rolls of bandages immediately flew out from the cabinet before doing several cartwheels around the room before finally stacking themselves neatly in her hand.

Reigus nodded approvingly at the display, "Excellent Alice-kun, you seem to be steadily improving your control over your telekinesis magic."

"But I still don't have the power that my sister has with her magic. If it's anything heavier than a chair I still can't get it to even move an inch, all it does is rattle around."

Neither of them took notice of the look on Naruto's face as he sat there gawking at the two of them as if they had both grown several heads at once. Even as the medicine started to kick in Naruto was able realize why Kurama had been so stunned earlier.

"_M-Magic….SAY WHAAAAAA-AAaaarrrgghh…._"

And with those final thoughts ringing in his head, Naruto blacked out when as the medicine finally took ahold of him, sending him into a blissful sleep.

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><p><strong>And that's it, I hope you all enjoyed it, and just a little note that I forgot to add on the top. Originally the story was going to be longer with a fight scene and a full introduction with Riverwood and its citizens but then the story would be horrendously long so I've decided to cut it in have and finish the rest of it in chapter 3.<strong>

**Also after chapter 3 comes out I am going to start revising my other stories and reconstructing them to add in several new things that I think would make them much better. So the order that the chapters come in will not be in a definite order. They will come out when they come out.**

**But that's enough information for now, so everyone have an awesome day and expect that the next time you read this story that Naruto will be back and kicking some ass!**


	3. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Thank you everyone for being so patient with me in updating my story. In the last chapter I mentioned that it was a personal goal of mine to eventually be able to update my stories about every two months, this summer has not exactly gone as I had planned.

I was actually able to get about half-way done with chapter 3 in three months when I received an email stating that I had been accepted as a transfer student to Purdue University about a week before my semester ended. Originally I had sent an application in months earlier and only received a reply during my last month of school, stating that I had not been accepted due to not meeting a few requirements that were already met. I found out later that the requirements that were on the internet at the time had not been officially set for the University yet and that I was eligible for reconsideration.

When the news came that I had been accepted, I had already set up a lease and classes for the following semester. So for most of the summer besides working, my family and I have had to spend all of our time getting the transfer official with my old school and having my lease declined while also finishing all the paperwork and appoints I had to make for Purdue.

And while I might want to continue writing this story, I will put my education and my job before it. So I apologize for any of you that have been waiting impatiently for an update. The good news is that I am finished with everything related to college now and that I can get back to finishing this chapter. If all goes well I might be able to finish it within the next two weeks before school starts, but I make no promises.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer and thank you for taking the time to read this note.


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